Thirteen years after Tony Blair hailed the Tory defeat, proclaiming “a new dawn has broken”, night is closing in on the New Labour era.

In contrast to the confident predictions of a third way which would ensure permanent peace and prosperity Brown’s government is sinking fast in a sea of economic crisis, bloody war and sleaze.

However perhaps the most striking fact about the coming Westminster contest is how slight the differences are between the so called ‘major’ parties.

At the heart of this is the reality that from Salmond’s praise of now dead Celtic tiger economies to Brown’s grovelling to now exposed City of London speculators all four backed the greedy globalised capitalism now collapsing before our eyes.

Forget the essentially irrelevant debates about when the bankers debt will be paid back - the one certainty is that all four intend the innocent public to pay the bill with lost jobs and slashed services.

And all four dutifully wave the flag and lie to the public that the ever worsening war in Afghanistan is a noble crusade to make us safe rather than bloodstained disaster doling out death to largely working class soldiers and innocent Afghans alike.

Beside such policy disasters the spectacle of expenses laden ex ministers hawking their inside track contacts for £5,000 a day simply seals the public revulsion with politics.

It is against this background of anger fear and cynicism that Scottish Socialists will fight in ten Westminster seats with the message that it doesn’t have to be like this, that another way is not only possible but essential.

On the doorstep, in hustings and public meetings on street stalls and in leaflets and the media SSP candidates will hammer home the messages against war and to make the rich pay for the disaster they have created.

At the poll the SSP stands out as the only party which demands an immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and an end to the war.

Centrally they will argue that the ingenuity knowledge and money exists to solve peoples problems but the greed of the rich and their lust for profits blocks the way.

Only by removing that roadblock, making the rich pay and putting the needs of people before the greed of profit can a different, just and peaceful future be won.

That will be the socialist message of hope over fear and war that SSP candidates will put to voters in the weeks ahead.

The welfare state, which was once seen as a towering achievement by Labour, will be used as a “weapon to oppress and discipline the poor” as spending cuts bite after May 6th.

That is the stark warning from former Labour MP and MSP John McAllion, now an SSP member, writing in the party’s fortnightly paper Scottish Socialist Voice.

It comes as both Labour and the Tories showcase policies aimed at selling the idea of “getting tough” with the unemployed and sick in an attempt to present them as scroungers.

Branding all three Westminster parties as Thatcherite, McAllion contrasts the assault on claimants with the spectacle of MPs charged with corruption and ex ministers touting for lobbying work at £5,000 a day.

He writes:“With unemployment still rising in Scotland, none of the big parties campaign to reverse New Labour’s welfare reforms that are now forcing lone parents back into low paid work; requiring the long-time unemployed to work for their benefits; and transferring jobcentre contracts to the private sector.

“What was once a welfare state that protected workers from the cradle to the grave will be used in coming years to oppress and discipline the poor.

“The three big mainstream parties contending for office in Westminster are now cast from the same mould as Thatcher’s Tories.

“Thatcher herself has boasted that New Labour was her “greatest achievement”. Clegg’s Liberal Democrats have positioned themselves midway between the two other Thatcherite parties.

“All three are now committed to reducing the national debt by a policy of slashing and burning the public sector. “

Mr McAllion is to host the Scottish Socialist Party’s election launch on Tuesday 13th April in Edinburgh.

On May 6th voters will be offered a dismal choice of cuts, sackings and wars by politicians tainted by corruption, duck houses and other expenses fiddling.

All three Westminster parties are in a race to see who can make the deepest cuts while the SNP wring their hands and blame London.

They all recommend cuts to vital public services which will hit the most vulnerable hardest and directly threaten the jobs of 100,000 Scottish workers.

In contrast the unequivocal message from the Scottish Socialist Party is that there is an alternative which avoids cuts and insists instead that the greedy pay for the disaster they created, that also ends our involvement in the Afghan war and offers jobs and justice not misery and war.

This belief is reflected in our programme for a Scotland which aims to meet peoples’ needs, not pander to the rich, for people not profit.

100,000 jobs Are directly threatened by the cuts promised by the Westminster parties and vital services for our most vulnerable citizens will go.We say that faced with such a threat words are not enough—action is needed. Scotland needs nothing less than a resistance movement of mass peaceful protest on the scale of that which defeated the poll tax. We will bring all the experience of the SSP to build such a movement.

Jobs for youth

The spectre of mass unemployment has returned twenty years after Margaret Thatcher was ejected from office. Many communities in Scotland are still suffering from the legacy of the 1980s with the poverty, heroin addiction, alcohol abuse and crime that goes with this chronic joblessness.Today the SSP says: 'Mass unemployment No More'. Instead of slashing Scotland's budget, the SSP will fight for emergency funding to protect our young people from becoming another wasted generation.

Let's Get Out of Afghanistan

This is a senseless military occupation which damages Britain's international reputation and does nothing to make the world a safer place. We are occupying a country that doesn't want us to be there. More than 50,000 innocent Afghan civilians have been killed. Some 280 British soldiers have also died. All the polling evidence suggests that 70% of the population here want our armed services withdrawn. The Scottish Socialist Party gives voice to that majority.

Clean up the Westminster 'midden'

In just 12 months Westminster has gone from 'the mother of parliaments' to 'the mother of all corruption'.The public has watched open mouthed as MPs attempt to justify obscene expenses claims which would get an ordinary worker sacked. MP's have repeatedly shown how they are all out of touch with the people they pretend to represent.For the SSP the answer is simple and it is to end the circumstances where becoming an MP brings a huge salary and expenses. We have long argued that MP's should live on the wage of those they represent. Our MSPs did just that at Holyrood thus keeping them in touch with the real lives of voters.

For a Green, Socialist Republic

The Scottish Socialist Party is a pro-independence party - no ifs, buts or maybes. We say Yes to an independence referendum and Yes to independenceWe will work with other pro-independence parties to deliver a resounding referendum YES vote.Beyond that, we stand for an independent socialist republic where the wealth is fairly distributed; where protection of the environment is paramount.Such a republic would prioritise the needs of people over profit and our environment over the greed of profiteers.The development of our colossal natural resources would be publicly owned to ensure the skilled jobs required are based in Scotland and the profits generated used to provide services not multinational profitAll citizens would be equal irrespective of gender, race, religion or sexuality in a country where the economy is no longer driven by greed and profit.